miss-mischiefx.deviantart.com/art/Dept.. (under her shirt and skirt, she looks like she does in the picture, just so you know when you read the explanation of her clothing :) )
Claire Sylvester had the reports of the construction that was being built underneath the kingdom of Cogsmire, and she didn’t know what to think of it. Whether it was true or not, was close to impossible to determine at the moment, as no one seemed to want to talk about it. The politicians that were working in the city, all claimed to know nothing about it when they had been asked by the law enforcers and with no proof, there was no way to force them to talk. The only thing the report stated was that people had gone missing over the last year, without any traces and sometimes, people could hear sounds coming from under the ground in certain places throughout the Cogsmire Kingdom. Something was going on, Claire was sure of it, but she couldn’t send anyone out to find out, since they might get captured and be forced to expose the truth of the King and Queen. If she went out by herself, at least she could decide whether she wanted to give the information to the people, she would run into. However, the first part of her journey would start with preparing to leave the palace. She would tell the workers that she was leaving on a vacation to one of the nearby kingdoms, the Bots Kingdom, though it would only be for a couple of days, a week at the most. She had no idea if that was the amount of time her research would take, but it was better to say something than say nothing.
She was in her bedroom now. It had a beautiful king size bed, with a black silk sheets on it and black silk pillows. There was a beautiful oak tree closet at the right wall, with room for all of her clothing. The walls were painted black, but had a lot of paintings on them, some that Claire had made by herself, others she had bought. There was a door leading to a bathroom that contained a large bathtub with enough room for at least four people. The handles and water pipes were all made out of silver, which looked beautifully polished every day. The sink was made of marble with silver handles as well. There was a large mirror above the sink and there was a lot of room in the bathroom. She had all her make-up products there and everything else a lady like her would need. She had opened her closet though, and was looking at what she would be wearing. Right now, she was standing naked, trying to determine what would be best to travel in. First she picked out a corset that had a lot of colors and images on it of flowers, roses, skulls and other things. Then she picked out a black bra, black stockings and black comfortable silk hot pants-like underwear. After that, she pulled on a long sleeved dark-blue shirt that clung to her body nicely, showing off her form but in a good way. She picked out a dark-blue skirt as well and put all of it on. Finally, she found a white fur winter coat since winter had arrived and there was snow outside. That also meant that she would go with her white winter boots and white silk gloves. She liked to play around with contrast in colors, which could also be seen with her hair, as it was a bright blue color. At least, she packed a bag with some spare clothing, mechanical equipment such as a wrench, screws, bolts and other things you could construct with. She also packed a small knife, as she would maybe have to protect herself. While she didn’t like to use violence, she had received training in weapon combat, which meant she could defend herself rather well. She packed down some beddings as well, just some light sheets and that was it, and this was all she would need. She knew she looked like a rich person, which might raise some kind of suspicion, however, that alone wouldn’t make them think she was royal and it might actually be a good way to infiltrate whoever was running the constructions underneath the ground.
Now that she was ready, she left a note for the workers in the palace and made her way out. It was 1:00 in the night, so she could get out without anyone seeing her. The note explained what she had planned for her story, and said that they shouldn’t contact her until she had come back by herself. She would make sure to come back after a week at least, unless there were some kind of complications that she would have to take care of as the Princess of Cogsmire Kingdom. She snuck out of the palace and the palace grounds without being spotted, and now she had to find out how she would find the place that the reports had suggested existed. Since it was underground, it had to be one of the old steam-powered train stations that were being used as an entrance to the place. The old underground railroads weren’t used anymore, now the trains only ran above ground as it was more safe for the people travelling with the trains every day. But to find this place, she would need someone to help her. She didn’t want to go to the most dirty bar that were in the city, and it probably wouldn’t give her anything either, she would have to go to the upper class bars, which probably also contained the people that might be involved with the situation underneath the ground. With that in mind, she made her way to the ‘Steamy Train’ bar.
This bar was known for it’s expensive alcohol and events, which meant only the rich people came here. As she entered, the butler at the door took her coat and bag and she was escorted to the main room of the bar. People didn’t pay much attention to her, while it wasn’t normal for someone at her age, to come into the bar, people were still too occupied with themselves to really give a shit about some young rich woman. Claire Sylvester thanked the butler for the help and went up to the desk. The room she was in had a fireplace, six beautiful dark red couches, paintings all over the walls and expensive furniture. People weren’t being loud and you could hear the music that was being played by one single gramophone in the room. This was definitely the place to find information if there was any information to be found at all. She ordered a glass of red wine and sat down on the bar chair at the desk and started to listen. She could hear that a lot of deals were being made between companies and other kind of partners, but it took a while before she heard anything that resembled the reports she had in the palace. Though when she heard it, she turned her head to look at an older man, a politician she recognized from pictures, and a younger man, probably around thirty years old. The older man was probably around sixty. “How is it going? Keeping it on time?” the older man asked. The young man nodded “Oh yes indeed. The new workers are excellent, just a little carrot and they all work like it was the best day in their life.” He smiled. The older man nodded a bit “We should get more people involved with this though, it would make it easier to pay for.” The young one said again. The old man sighed, “If we do that, it might end up being exposed to the wrong people.” But the young man had made up his mind. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. Go home old man, and we’ll talk in the morning.” He smiled. The old man sighed and shook his head, before he went out of the bar. Claire knew this was her shot, but he had to approach her first.
It wasn’t difficult though, she just made eye contact with him ten minutes after the old man had left, and he had come over to her like she wanted. He was probably out for something else, a lady for the night, before he would continue his work in the day time, but Claire had other plans. “Good evening milady. It’s rare to see someone as young as you in here. What brings you here? Business or pleasure?” he asked her, ordering a glass of red wine himself. Claire smiled at him a bit, taking a sip of her wine “A bit of both, should the options present themselves.” She smiled. “But I’m not sure I’ve come to the right place, I’m more into risky business than safe business, gives a rush to the adrenaline.” She smiled. The young man grinned a little “Oh I see. Well, maybe you did come to the right place then, I might have an offer for you, but it’s a hush-hush project.” Claire already had him on her hook, and he clearly wasn’t the brightest young man in the world, which led Claire to believe that the older man was the one behind some of it at least. This young man probably just wanted to rise in the ranks of the political world as fast as he could, and if he saw an easy opening, he would take it.
By the time the clock had reached 2:00 in the morning, Claire had managed to get the young man drunk, by pretending to drink her own wine faster than she did and it had made the young man open up a bit more. “You see, we have this, idea, to build something that can take care of the people that we decide are worthy of protection, a paradise if you will. It will have all the things the outside world sometimes lack. Green scenery, swimming pools, gardens, mechanical helpers and it will be for the rich people and for those we deem worthy, not the shitty royal family. They will have no place in our palace.” Claire listened and wanted to smack him for that comment, but she had to play it cool. “But well, it takes a lot of money, so we are working hard on it.” Claire gave him a fake smile and put a hand on his leg, a bit further up than she would have liked to do, but it was all in the name of seduction. “Well, I happen to have quite a good amount of money, and this place sounds just like the place I would love to live in. If you show me the place, I might be willing to put some money into it and help you finance it.” The young man grinned at her “Then come with me, Milady.” He said.
Thirty minutes later, Claire had been led down one of the old train station entrances and through a tunnel that led further under the ground. What she was now looking at, was almost an underground city in itself, though it looked more like a slum city, than a city with laws and respect for each other. The houses here were broken and very small, the light posts weren’t very good and people wore dirty clothing. Many of the people here also looked like they had been hurt in one way or the other. In the distance, a tall tower could be seen. The young man smiled “That tower, is the Steam Paradise.” He smiled. “People down here won’t do you any harm, as they know what the consequence will be, so take a stroll around the city and take a look at the tower, and we can talk in the morning. My head is buzzing from the alcohol so I need to get home and sleep. But if you are interested, meet me in the bar again tomorrow evening.” He smiled. With that, he went away and Claire had successfully infiltrated the place she had been seeking, quite easily, though she had suspected that if it had been the old man she had to seduce, it wouldn’t have gone nearly as easy. Well, the tower was the least of her concerns though, she had to find someone willing to tell her what was going on and the best place to do that, would probably be at the square of the city. She followed the roads that seemed to lead to a central place of the underground city, and once she got there, despite the time of the night, it was alive with people. Small shops were open all around and people bought food and other supplies, though it didn’t seem they had that much money. She saw a workshop that sold equipment for construction and such and decided it was a good a place as any to start. She walked into it to see if she could find someone to talk with and hopefully not someone who wanted to try and rob her or possibly kill her.
Claire Sylvester had the reports of the construction that was being built underneath the kingdom of Cogsmire, and she didn’t know what to think of it. Whether it was true or not, was close to impossible to determine at the moment, as no one seemed to want to talk about it. The politicians that were working in the city, all claimed to know nothing about it when they had been asked by the law enforcers and with no proof, there was no way to force them to talk. The only thing the report stated was that people had gone missing over the last year, without any traces and sometimes, people could hear sounds coming from under the ground in certain places throughout the Cogsmire Kingdom. Something was going on, Claire was sure of it, but she couldn’t send anyone out to find out, since they might get captured and be forced to expose the truth of the King and Queen. If she went out by herself, at least she could decide whether she wanted to give the information to the people, she would run into. However, the first part of her journey would start with preparing to leave the palace. She would tell the workers that she was leaving on a vacation to one of the nearby kingdoms, the Bots Kingdom, though it would only be for a couple of days, a week at the most. She had no idea if that was the amount of time her research would take, but it was better to say something than say nothing.
She was in her bedroom now. It had a beautiful king size bed, with a black silk sheets on it and black silk pillows. There was a beautiful oak tree closet at the right wall, with room for all of her clothing. The walls were painted black, but had a lot of paintings on them, some that Claire had made by herself, others she had bought. There was a door leading to a bathroom that contained a large bathtub with enough room for at least four people. The handles and water pipes were all made out of silver, which looked beautifully polished every day. The sink was made of marble with silver handles as well. There was a large mirror above the sink and there was a lot of room in the bathroom. She had all her make-up products there and everything else a lady like her would need. She had opened her closet though, and was looking at what she would be wearing. Right now, she was standing naked, trying to determine what would be best to travel in. First she picked out a corset that had a lot of colors and images on it of flowers, roses, skulls and other things. Then she picked out a black bra, black stockings and black comfortable silk hot pants-like underwear. After that, she pulled on a long sleeved dark-blue shirt that clung to her body nicely, showing off her form but in a good way. She picked out a dark-blue skirt as well and put all of it on. Finally, she found a white fur winter coat since winter had arrived and there was snow outside. That also meant that she would go with her white winter boots and white silk gloves. She liked to play around with contrast in colors, which could also be seen with her hair, as it was a bright blue color. At least, she packed a bag with some spare clothing, mechanical equipment such as a wrench, screws, bolts and other things you could construct with. She also packed a small knife, as she would maybe have to protect herself. While she didn’t like to use violence, she had received training in weapon combat, which meant she could defend herself rather well. She packed down some beddings as well, just some light sheets and that was it, and this was all she would need. She knew she looked like a rich person, which might raise some kind of suspicion, however, that alone wouldn’t make them think she was royal and it might actually be a good way to infiltrate whoever was running the constructions underneath the ground.
Now that she was ready, she left a note for the workers in the palace and made her way out. It was 1:00 in the night, so she could get out without anyone seeing her. The note explained what she had planned for her story, and said that they shouldn’t contact her until she had come back by herself. She would make sure to come back after a week at least, unless there were some kind of complications that she would have to take care of as the Princess of Cogsmire Kingdom. She snuck out of the palace and the palace grounds without being spotted, and now she had to find out how she would find the place that the reports had suggested existed. Since it was underground, it had to be one of the old steam-powered train stations that were being used as an entrance to the place. The old underground railroads weren’t used anymore, now the trains only ran above ground as it was more safe for the people travelling with the trains every day. But to find this place, she would need someone to help her. She didn’t want to go to the most dirty bar that were in the city, and it probably wouldn’t give her anything either, she would have to go to the upper class bars, which probably also contained the people that might be involved with the situation underneath the ground. With that in mind, she made her way to the ‘Steamy Train’ bar.
This bar was known for it’s expensive alcohol and events, which meant only the rich people came here. As she entered, the butler at the door took her coat and bag and she was escorted to the main room of the bar. People didn’t pay much attention to her, while it wasn’t normal for someone at her age, to come into the bar, people were still too occupied with themselves to really give a shit about some young rich woman. Claire Sylvester thanked the butler for the help and went up to the desk. The room she was in had a fireplace, six beautiful dark red couches, paintings all over the walls and expensive furniture. People weren’t being loud and you could hear the music that was being played by one single gramophone in the room. This was definitely the place to find information if there was any information to be found at all. She ordered a glass of red wine and sat down on the bar chair at the desk and started to listen. She could hear that a lot of deals were being made between companies and other kind of partners, but it took a while before she heard anything that resembled the reports she had in the palace. Though when she heard it, she turned her head to look at an older man, a politician she recognized from pictures, and a younger man, probably around thirty years old. The older man was probably around sixty. “How is it going? Keeping it on time?” the older man asked. The young man nodded “Oh yes indeed. The new workers are excellent, just a little carrot and they all work like it was the best day in their life.” He smiled. The older man nodded a bit “We should get more people involved with this though, it would make it easier to pay for.” The young one said again. The old man sighed, “If we do that, it might end up being exposed to the wrong people.” But the young man had made up his mind. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. Go home old man, and we’ll talk in the morning.” He smiled. The old man sighed and shook his head, before he went out of the bar. Claire knew this was her shot, but he had to approach her first.
It wasn’t difficult though, she just made eye contact with him ten minutes after the old man had left, and he had come over to her like she wanted. He was probably out for something else, a lady for the night, before he would continue his work in the day time, but Claire had other plans. “Good evening milady. It’s rare to see someone as young as you in here. What brings you here? Business or pleasure?” he asked her, ordering a glass of red wine himself. Claire smiled at him a bit, taking a sip of her wine “A bit of both, should the options present themselves.” She smiled. “But I’m not sure I’ve come to the right place, I’m more into risky business than safe business, gives a rush to the adrenaline.” She smiled. The young man grinned a little “Oh I see. Well, maybe you did come to the right place then, I might have an offer for you, but it’s a hush-hush project.” Claire already had him on her hook, and he clearly wasn’t the brightest young man in the world, which led Claire to believe that the older man was the one behind some of it at least. This young man probably just wanted to rise in the ranks of the political world as fast as he could, and if he saw an easy opening, he would take it.
By the time the clock had reached 2:00 in the morning, Claire had managed to get the young man drunk, by pretending to drink her own wine faster than she did and it had made the young man open up a bit more. “You see, we have this, idea, to build something that can take care of the people that we decide are worthy of protection, a paradise if you will. It will have all the things the outside world sometimes lack. Green scenery, swimming pools, gardens, mechanical helpers and it will be for the rich people and for those we deem worthy, not the shitty royal family. They will have no place in our palace.” Claire listened and wanted to smack him for that comment, but she had to play it cool. “But well, it takes a lot of money, so we are working hard on it.” Claire gave him a fake smile and put a hand on his leg, a bit further up than she would have liked to do, but it was all in the name of seduction. “Well, I happen to have quite a good amount of money, and this place sounds just like the place I would love to live in. If you show me the place, I might be willing to put some money into it and help you finance it.” The young man grinned at her “Then come with me, Milady.” He said.
Thirty minutes later, Claire had been led down one of the old train station entrances and through a tunnel that led further under the ground. What she was now looking at, was almost an underground city in itself, though it looked more like a slum city, than a city with laws and respect for each other. The houses here were broken and very small, the light posts weren’t very good and people wore dirty clothing. Many of the people here also looked like they had been hurt in one way or the other. In the distance, a tall tower could be seen. The young man smiled “That tower, is the Steam Paradise.” He smiled. “People down here won’t do you any harm, as they know what the consequence will be, so take a stroll around the city and take a look at the tower, and we can talk in the morning. My head is buzzing from the alcohol so I need to get home and sleep. But if you are interested, meet me in the bar again tomorrow evening.” He smiled. With that, he went away and Claire had successfully infiltrated the place she had been seeking, quite easily, though she had suspected that if it had been the old man she had to seduce, it wouldn’t have gone nearly as easy. Well, the tower was the least of her concerns though, she had to find someone willing to tell her what was going on and the best place to do that, would probably be at the square of the city. She followed the roads that seemed to lead to a central place of the underground city, and once she got there, despite the time of the night, it was alive with people. Small shops were open all around and people bought food and other supplies, though it didn’t seem they had that much money. She saw a workshop that sold equipment for construction and such and decided it was a good a place as any to start. She walked into it to see if she could find someone to talk with and hopefully not someone who wanted to try and rob her or possibly kill her.